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Nearly a quarter increase in interest in studying was recorded this year by the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Brno University of Technology. The number of paid applications for bachelor's programs increased by 22 percent. Like other universities, the faculty benefits from demographics—this year, 6.9 percent more people were eligible to apply to universities. However, the faculty significantly exceeded this figure. Its leadership explains this by their long-term effort to present civil engineering as a field heavily involving modern technologies, engaging companies that show students what real work looks like.
Author: Václav KoníčekApplicants’ interest in individual study programs was evenly distributed; they submitted applications to the main Civil Engineering program as well as to all the others. “A few years ago, we realized we were fighting a negative image of the field. When people hear civil engineering, they often imagine rubber boots, mud, early mornings, and work far from home. But we show them a world full of modern technologies, attractive materials, advanced modeling, inventions, the implementation of robotic solutions, and even 3D printing, which already allows for the creation of entire buildings,” explains the dean of the faculty, Rostislav Drochytka.
According to him, the key to success is also that students already understand what their future jobs will look like while still at the faculty. In recent years, the school has established several important partnerships with companies whose representatives regularly come to lecture—for example, about pricing construction contracts, how the approach differs between a family house and the development of a logistics center or office park, what facility management entails, or how construction companies keep up with rapid technological development.
“Not every graduate of ours works as a pure civil engineer. Some may become managers in development, others oversee building energy management or develop modern materials, others focus on facility management or the real estate market. We try to reflect all of that,” said Dean Drochytka, adding that a major topic today is reducing the energy demands of buildings and integrating sustainability into civil engineering.
This topic is introduced to students by one of the companies involved in teaching, experts from the energy-consulting firm PKV BUILD. Its founders, Jiří Pech and Ondřej Vaněk, are alumni of the faculty—they built their company from scratch based on consulting related to building energy performance certificates. Today, they are the most significant Czech company in the field of building energy analysis and the design of energy-saving measures, including the use of renewable energy sources. They also develop their own software, Enmon, which monitors energy flows in buildings.
“In our daily work, we see how few people can connect different perspectives. The labor market lacks those who can combine knowledge about buildings and their behavior with energy systems, work with the building life cycle, and design optimizations that make economic sense. That’s why we see our membership in the faculty's industrial board as an opportunity to move this forward,” said Jiří Pech, whose company hosts dozens of students each year for various types of internships and practical training.
His words also show that civil engineering faces great challenges. However, the success of the faculty's graduates demonstrates a willingness to meet them—98 percent of them find employment in the field within a year of graduation.Source: FCE BUTRelated:Record interest in BUT: The highest number of applications in the last decade